VZCZCXRO3552
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1031/01 1920850
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100850Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1290
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001031 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF EAID SOCI KPKO SU
SUBJECT: MISSERIYA TRIBAL LEADER TELLS CDA "DON'T IGNORE US!" 
 
REFS:  A. KHARTOUM 939 
¶B. KHARTOUM 1012 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: CDA Fernandez warned traditional Misseriya leader 
Sidiq Babo Nimer that the Misseriya risk being branded as aggressors 
if they resort to violence in Abyei and he urged that they argue 
their case carefully and reasonably.  Sidiq praised Embassy efforts 
to engage the Misseriya, and listed the tribe's assistance needs in 
Muglad.  A prominent member of the Umma party, he indicated that the 
various Umma-party factions are making little progress in reuniting, 
while denying that Umma is allowing itself to become a tool of the 
NCP.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On July 8, Misseriya-tribal elder and National Umma Party 
official Sidiq Babo Nimer called on CDA Fernandez, saying that he is 
anxious to continue the Misseriya dialogue with the Embassy that 
began with the CDA's meetings with Misseriya leaders on June 23-24 
(ref. A).  Sidiq said that the best part of that meeting had been 
the discussion of U.S.-Sudan bilateral relations.  He said that this 
discussion had opened the eyes of the Misseriya elders, making them 
realize "the Americans are not so bad!"  Sidiq is the brother of 
Misseriya Awlad Kamel clan chief Mukhtar Babo Nimr. The Charge 
agreed that it would be very useful for the dialogue to continue, 
commenting, "We need to be creative" to find solutions to the 
problems in Abyei. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Misseriya elders had complained that the U.S. was 
ignoring their needs, while lavishing aid on the south.  The CDA 
provided Sidiq with a USAID Fact Sheet detailing U.S. assistance to 
the Misseriya heartland region around Muglad and a map showing the 
location of USAID-constructed water yards and a community 
development center.  But the Charge agreed that "it is not enough. 
We need to do more." 
 
Misseriya Are the Real Victims in Abyei 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶4.  (SBU) Turning to developments in Abyei and the recent NCP-SPLM 
Roadmap agreement, Sidiq said that the Misseriya will never accept 
the ABC boundary determination and "will invade" Abyei if the 
arbitration panel confirms the ABC line as the correct border.  CDA 
Fernandez responded that this would be a big mistake.  He agreed 
that the SPLM was far from perfect in its handling of the Abyei 
dispute, but were the Misseriya to resort to force, they would be 
blamed as the aggressor.  The Misseriya have a case to make, but 
they must make it carefully and reasonably if they want it to be 
heard. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Sidiq replied that he does not want war, but he described 
the Misseriya as only a "primitive tribe," whose way of life depends 
on their access to the Bahr al Ghazal grasslands south of Abyei. "We 
are like your red Indians," he noted. There is a real danger that 
frustration could reach a point that traditional leaders could lose 
control of their people.  As have others, he asserted that the 
Misseriya have no problem with the Dinka and blamed the SPLA for 
provoking the conflict.  CDA Fernandez replied that the U.S. will 
continue to deliver the message to "rein everyone in."  The SPLM 
also has its extremists spewing "racist language," he agreed.  He 
told Sidiq that in their meeting the previous day (ref. B), he had 
warned GoSS Presidential Affairs Minister Luka Biong Deng that "we 
don't want this from Muglad and we don't want it from Agok either." 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Charge Fernandez continued that the U.S. is justifiably 
suspicious of the NCP, and that if the Misseriya allow themselves to 
be "politically contaminated" and linked too closely with the party, 
Americans will tend to identify them as NCP surrogates.  Do not 
allow yourselves to be used by the NCP, he warned.  Sidiq agreed, 
saying that the Misseriya now feel more bitterness toward the NCP 
than they do toward the SPLM, believing that the NCP used them, then 
let them down.  The CDA agreed, saying that "the NCP will use you 
until they no longer need you." 
 
Misseriya Assistance Needs 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶7.  (SBU) Sidiq suggested that a limited amount of assistance to the 
Misseriya in Muglad would go a long way toward improving the U.S.' 
image.  He listed their priorities as first, access to water, 
second, medical services, and third repairs and support to Muglad 
primary schools.   Siddiq said that the school where he studied as a 
child currently lacks a roof and school has to be dismissed whenever 
it rains.  CDA Fernandez noted that the U.S. has encouraged the UN 
to open a Muglad office to assist the 5,000 IDPs who fled there from 
Abyei. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The Charge asked whether it would be worthwhile to make a 
trip specifically to Muglad and Siddiq agreed it would be a good 
idea.  CDA Fernandez noted that he had visited Muglad briefly in 
 
KHARTOUM 00001031  002 OF 002 
 
 
April in conjunction with Abyei.  Muglad usually is an add-on to a 
trip somewhere else, he commented, but it takes time to see things 
and to talk to people. 
 
Umma - NCP - SPLM Dynamics 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶9.  (SBU) Charge asked Sidiq, a member of the National Umma Party 
Political Bureau, about the Party's progress in uniting in the 
run-up to the national elections.  Sidiq laughed and indicated that 
little progress is being made.  He noted that Umma-defector Mubarak 
al Fadel is charging that there is an Umma-NCP alliance against 
Mubarak's Umma (Reform and Renewal) faction, which Sidiq denied.  He 
ridiculed the chances of Al-Fadel-SPLM alliance against Umma-NCP 
(Note:  Recently, Mubarak has charged that the recent NCP-Umma 
agreement includes a "hidden agenda."  End note).  Including 
Mubarak's group, there are now five Umma factions, he said.  The CDA 
remarked that Mubarak's having suffered at the hands of the NCP 
tends to give his statements credibility in the eyes of Americans. 
Sidiq also complained that Northern SPLMers Mansur Khalid and Yasser 
Arman are trying to establish a veto over Umma-SPLM relations, 
criticizing Umma for dealing with the NCP while the SPLM does the 
same.  The Charge again warned that given deep U.S. suspicions of 
the NCP, Umma risks being seen as the same as the NCP, if the two 
become too close. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
¶10.  (SBU) Courtly and articulate, Sidiq Babu Nimer portrayed the 
Misseriya as poor people who only want to live in peace with their 
Dinka neighbors, victimized by both the NCP and the SPLM, more 
sinned against than sinning.  The truth is more complex.  While 
Misseriya are hardly without fault in the current conflict (and 
prior to the CPA conducted violent raids into the South as part of 
the northern PDF forces) they are indeed among Sudan's marginalized 
populations, who have been manipulated by others when they were not 
simply ignored.  Embassy's recent outreach to them has shown how 
eager they are to tell their side of the story.  Additional 
attention and targeted assistance could pay off in helping to calm 
the volatile Abyei-Muglad conflict zone. 
 
FERNANDEZ